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Monday, 14 January 2013

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

It's been ages since I posted (I hope none of you were holding your breath!) but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy crafting! In fact, I've managed to get quite a lot done on several projects, not to mention writing numerous assignments for my diploma, and starting a new job. Phew! I have been busy.

The first project I finished was a Christmas stocking for the Young Lad. I started this before last Christmas, but didn't get it finished, partly because I wasn't quite happy with the embellishments that I had bought. I am pleased to say that it was finished in plenty of time for Santa to fill it up!

First of all, I wasn't happy with the star that I bought last year, because the only one I could find that looked remotely like what I had in mind had a loop for stitching at the top, and it was a little small for my tree. Then one day I was at one of my favourite craft shops, looking for something entirely different, and I found these lovely star buttons. I couldn't make up my mind whether to buy the natural wood one, which was just the right size, or the gold one, which was a little small, but shiny, which a Christmas star really ought to be...

In the end, I bought both, and stitched them on one on top of the other! I rather like the way it looks!

The other thing I wasn't happy with was the decorations for the tree that I found while we were on holiday, at another great craft shop. Although they were very cute, I didn't like the way the shank on the back of the snowflakes and gingerbread-men made them sit.

After pondering about this for a while, I decided to just cut them off, they were just plastic after all!

This was very easily achieved! I just used a pair of nail clippers, which allowed me to cut the shanks off flush with the back of the decorations.

Then I had to figure out how I would attach them. The gingerbread-men had little dots for buttons, so I used these as placement marks, and then stuck a drawing pin in them to make holes. This was surprisingly easy.

I then checked that I could fit a needle through the hole, and there were my gingerbread-men, ready to go. I didn't need to make holes in the snowflakes, as the snowflake design had holes in it anyway which I could easily use to stitch them on.

And there you have it. The Young Lad was very happy with it, and he asked Santa to put a rubbish truck, Superman, and some chocolate in it!